


Have you heard?

by ShadowSelene (Shadowdianne)



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-16
Updated: 2018-03-28
Packaged: 2019-03-19 10:30:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13702638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowdianne/pseuds/ShadowSelene
Summary: Swan queen prompt. Regina and Emma realize maleficent and one of snowing ex knights are hitting off and try to get them their happy endings. While trying to play cupids, Emma and Regina eventually start to fall in love. Asked by anon via tumblr





	1. Chapter 1

“Have you hear?”

Regina glanced up, pointedly touching the papers she was supposed to be looking into as Emma grinned at her from the doorstep, Granny’s food dangling from her hand in a small paper bag as a silent bribing she decided to take instead of torching Emma on the spot. A reflex that, ultimately, had died down a long time ago.

“What should have I heard?” She asked, letting Emma enter with a movement of her right hand as she piled up the sheets of paper in where Spencer’s words were painfully sprawled in a proposal she was still half thinking on erasing altogether out of pettiness alone.

Almost sprawling on the chair in front of her, Emma put the bag between them and took out the sandwich and fries Regina was very well aware that she would end up stealing from her half-way their impromptu lunch. The easiness on Emma’s moves made Regina, not for the first time, smile inwardly, her memory going back to the day not so long ago an eyes-red-rimmed Emma had knocked on the door before muttering “I can’t do this anymore.” The recovery of the playful side of the younger woman had taken time; more time anyone was open to admit should have been enough red-herring for everyone involved.

Still, in the present, Emma wasn’t trembling or stuttering but smiling as she offered Regina her usual before biting into her own food, sheriff badge glimmering under the office light in a way that always managed to catch the brunette’s attention before she turned towards the food, curiosity getting the best of her.

“Emma…?”

Swallowing, the blonde pointed with her chin to the outside world that extended past Regina’s windows; the light coming from the surprisingly uncovered sky enough to create a sort of halo around her thanks to her yellow tresses.

“Maleficent is seeing someone or at least flirting. Granny saw her with a knight from mo… Snow’s castle.”

The information alone was enough to puzzle Regina; Emma wasn’t one to gossip about other’s life but it was the way the blonde had halted herself before saying “mom” that made the former queen think back on that morning when she had caught Snow herself muttering dejectedly to a silent Granny Lucas about how it didn’t matter how much she wanted her daughter’s happiness; Emma didn’t seem open to it.

“Your mother again?” She asked succinctly, eliciting a dry laugh from the younger woman who bit into the sandwich as if it had personally wronged her.

“She just keeps saying how everyone around is getting their happy endings. Maleficent included.”

That last bit was said in an almost perfect impersonation of the absent brunette and Regina needed to fight down a smirk that threatened to break free from her lips. It had been a long time since she had considered Snow something close to an enemy but her unwavering belief that happiness resided into the notion of finding your own significant other was tiresome on its own right.

“Well, Mal likes to play.” She answered while biting daintily into a fry. “I’m sure Snow will soon enough need to swallow her words if that’s what you are worried about.”

Emma posture seemed to change for a moment, the easiness on her movements stifling an unnatural angle before she rearranged herself, hands still grasping the now lowered sandwich in a way that made the brunette feel slightly uneasy; flustered in a way she had learnt to recognize as something only Emma seemed able to make her feel.

“She won’t stop.” Emma sighed. “She tells me that she is just worried but…”

In hindsight, that was the moment the idea formed into Emma’s mind; the way her face grew slack enough for Regina to feel that something was about to happen.

“How about we make them have a date? Since they are already flirting.”

“I’m not sure that meddling into someone’s love life as if they were our playthings is the wisest choice.”

“But then if I prove to Snow that I can be… well, the savior, she may starts not pressuring so much of finding someone for myself.”

Regina sighed deeply and pondered the idea for a moment, feigning to feel tempted to say no when she knew very well that she would say yes, no matter what. That was, she reasoned almost angry, the price to pay for thinking about the other woman as she did.

A secret that hadn’t been such when Hook had left Storybrooke; leer directed at her as he muttered in a slurring pace how he had lost even before starting at the end. A truth Emma had heard as she had been standing next to the brunette but hadn’t commented on it. Neither of them had despite the many moments in where Regina had stood far too close to her, hands itching to grasp Emma’s and just ask.

Mentally growling and already knowing Mal was going to probably grill her alive, she finally nodded.

“What do you want me to do?”

Emma grinned. “How about setting them up?”

* * *

“I’ve heard you were asking about me and a certain someone.”

Maleficent could have approached the situation at any other given time in a different way but she was direct enough to let the door open and close behind her with just the barest touch of magic and look at the woman seated in front of her. Regina’s withering glare transformed into one of shame and the older woman almost smirked before she moved forward.

The dragoness approached her in two long strides making Regina feel like a younger version of herself all over again; entering into the castle of the woman and asking awedly about her magic. This time, however, she wasn’t that naïve and so she kept her ground as Mal eyed her, eyes glimmering in the fire that seemed to always have alight inside of her even in human form.

Placing a hand on the desk’s surface and tilting her head at her right in an almost reptilian move Mal hummed, anger shimmering down enough for Regina to rose her chin and draw her own hand over her hair, a poor attempt of shielding herself against the piercing look of the older woman. Woman who let a toothy grin spread before narrowing her eyes, lips turning from a smile to pursed in just a matter of seconds.

“Instead of trying to find me someone to be with.” She started, eyebrow raising in a gesture Regina had used herself more times than she was able to count. “As if I couldn’t be happy alone… how about you actually go on a date with that savior of yours? It’s been long enough for it to not be amusing but downright exasperating at this point.”

The frankness on Mal’s voice was what made Regina stop, mouth open, mid-halted in an explanation that both of them could almost feel falling flat on top of the desk almost covered entirely by the papers Regina had feigned on be reading when the other woman had entered. Smirk forming now, Mal straightened her back, raising to her usual height as Regina swallowed quickly, beginning to shake her head in a poor attempt to hide her flustered state. Long gone was the woman that had pretended to be one of the Queens of Darkness and, for a second, Mal’s gaze turned to the past as she now could see the same eagerness on Regina’s pupils.

“Don’t bother trying to tell me that it’s not real.” Mal added in a much gentler voice than the one she had used before. Tone raspy, she put a strand of hair behind Regina’s hair; a movement that elicited a glare from the brunette as she visibly recomposed herself, back straight and palms pressed against each other, traitorous fingers playing and fidgeting in a movement the older sorceress had seen on the blonde they were talking about herself. “Whatever relationship I have with this knight… it’s mine alone. You aren’t Snow’s puppet; you don’t believe everyone should have a lasting partner just because the Forest seemed to be created for it.”

The term “puppet” seemed to be enough for Regina to snap out of her daze and Mal almost smirked as the brunette shook her head, getting rid of whatever mental cobwebs her words had conjured before circling the table, coming closer to her before closing her eyes and sighing in one fluid movement.

“I told Emma that.”

That alone made Mal’s brow rose higher as she fastened the buttons on her blouse in a for the sake of show movement that made Regina roll her eyes as she sat on the edge of the desk, legs crossed at the ankles.

“I told her that we shouldn’t get involved but she didn’t want to let it go. Ever after the divorce Snow has… taken it out on her. Not purposely but in a way that…”

“Only Snow can.” Mal finished before grunting in a manner that seemed more reminiscence of her other half than her human form. She hadn’t hated Snow as much as Regina’s own evil version had had but her desire and black and white views of what the world should be had always gotten on her nerves.

Regina nodded and Mal saw the way she bit into her bottom lip, a detail that she had done as well back in another time. One that suddenly made Maleficent feel ancient as she saw the woman unfold in front of her.

“I think she just wanted to prove her that she was still Emma, the savior, capable of bring happy endings even after everything.”

“And she chose me.” Mal let out a mirthful chuckle. “Should I now feel lucky that the princess thought of me as her personal project?”

Regina casted a pointed look at her, one that spoke of a warning Mal smirked at before raising one elbow, arms crossed as the brunette dragged a low puff of air. Young, the epithet seemed to be coming to Mal’s mind even more now. It had been a long time since she had seen a glimpse of the Regina she had had the luck to see through the still settling pieces of what would later become the Evil Queen; a woman in love. Regina, despite everything, hadn’t denied the implications of what she had first said about her wish to be with the infuriating savior.

“She doesn’t see you like that.” Now Regina’s voice sounded tired and Mal almost felt pity for her. Almost. “She is not her mother.”

Mal took a step backwards and half turned towards the door, silently happy that the lines of her clothes kept her outfit as imposing as her wings would have.

“Then stop trying to be someone you are not and go in that date yourself. I’ll want details.”

She didn’t use magic to spy what was Regina’s reaction as she closed the door behind her with enough magic to make the air around the building shimmer in the gleam that was as hers as Regina was her purple. She would have chuckled, however, as Regina sat back on her chair and remained silent for the longest of times before she emitted a strangled sigh that disappeared in the same purple smoke that engulfed her and a few of those sheets of papers that floated for a moment before settling back on the desk.

She definetely laughed a week later when Regina entered into the dinner trying hard to cover the smug glow on her eyes and a scarf conveniently placed around her neck.

(As for her and the knight… she really couldn’t complain)

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I recieved a few anons asking for a second chapter. I rarely do this but I was in the mood for some domestic little scene so... here it is. SO to those anons ;)

 

“So,” Mal said while stirring a tea both Regina and herself knew she wasn’t going to finish. “Should I ask how things are going with Emma?”

The two of them were at Regina’s; the perfect sight of regal composure if it wasn’t because of the traces of magic that could still be seen shimmering on the air. Only witness of their own magic sparring less than an hour ago.  Narrowing her eyes at the dragoness while taking a sip of the spiked tea, Regina unconsciously thought on the night she had had with Emma the day before, long after Henry had fallen asleep and no one could sense the power that crackled through the air. No one but Mal if the smirk and glow on her eyes was any indication.

Setting her cup aside while staring at the older woman, Regina pursed her lips; fighting against her will to smile. It hadn’t been easy to face Emma after her last talk with Mal. Too many years of silence had rendered her speechless the moment she finally had had the blonde in front of her, confused furrow on her brows and just the tiniest bit of lopsided smile that the former queen had looked at it before actually starting to say what she hadn’t at the end; choosing on showing instead.

“I could ask the same thing with a certain someone that I still don’t know his name yet.” Her answer was met with a small chuckle before Maleficent left all pretenses and let her fingers dance through the air, the sparks falling into her skin as she absorbed them. Regina followed the movement with attentive eyes thinking, not for the first time, how both the woman she had in front of her and her sister would actually be terrific as friends. Terrific being the key word.

Rolling her eyes and not letting Mal’s magic impress her, she casted away the tea cups; waiting as the dragoness shrugged, amused.

“Things are going well.” She finally answered, smacking her lips while a rumbling laugh escaped her chest in a way that made Regina of the animal the other woman could turn into instead of the human form she now had. “Extremely so. But you haven’t answered my question.”

Regina let her eyes wander a little, knowing that she hadn’t. Her magic coiled just at the nape of her neck, falling down towards her shoulders and spine in where it settled with a numbing hum she could feel in the form of a jolt of electricity running down her nerves.

“Things are going well.” She finally replied, sighing slightly as she felt the nerves on the heaviness of her tongue. She felt younger, a kind of younger she hadn’t felt ever since she had looked into Leopold’s eyes knowing well her destiny had been sealed. Maleficent’s presence, she found herself thinking warily, had that kind of reaction on her; a conversation with ghosts she hadn’t truly thought about in quite the long time.

The dragoness seemed to sense her unsteadiness and smiled warmly at her, pupils seeming to almost change for a second before she nodded at her, beckoning her to go on. Something Regina almost growled at.

“You’re impossible.” She protested, eliciting a chuckle from the older woman who shrugged and stood ironing the fabric of her clothes in one smooth motion.

“You like it that way.” The dragoness replied with a smirk as Regina followed her movements with less flourish. “I’m still curious if our charming savior feels interested on trying to set me up in a date just for the fun of it.”

Regina pressed her tongue against her upper teeth, bits and pieces of the chat she had had with Emma echoing on the back of her mind.

“She won’t.” She finally assured.

“I hope she doesn’t.”

-.-

“And she left like that?” Emma’s eyes were loud on her doubts as she stared at Regina while the brunette finished her retelling of that afternoon’s date with Mal.

The two of them were at the same place the brunette and the dragoness had been, sun long settled and the eerie silence that fell over Storybrooke every other autumn night hovering above the two of them while the silver shade of the moonlight casted the barest glimmer against the warmer lights of the living room.

Fingers dangling lazily and almost touching Regina’s skin, Emma looked, by far, more relaxed than what her words conveyed and Regina stared at the woman’s hand for a moment before speaking again.

“Mal’s idea of when a conversation is over can differ from ours.” She replied with an almost clipped tone. Her mind had kept on repeating the conversation again and again ever since the other woman had left and now retelling it again had left her drained in a way only magic seemed to be able to accomplish. “She said what she wanted to say and left.”

Emma hummed and made the same contrite grimace Regina had seen on her ever after she had talked to her about Maleficent’s thoughts on trying to set a date for her and what that alone said about her mother’s meddling.

Deciding on letting that part of the conversation slide for now, the former queen cleared her throat and played with the texture of Emma’s jeans. The blonde’s body warmth only felt more real beneath her fingers as she did so and, not for the first time, she thought on how giddy the other woman made her felt; how freeing it had been to kiss her senseless the night they had finally talked about something that had felt equally difficult and yet as something they had already been speaking about for years now the moment they both let out a rueful laughter. One that had died almost instantly but had been enough response to the magic that buzzed on their bodies, begging to be released.

“I’ll talk to her tomorrow.”

Emma’s words woke Regina from her reverie, brown eyes widening as Emma merely shrugged. Gone was the doubtful woman that had been the usual on the blonde’s take on the world. A welcome change but one Regina still felt as if walking through thin ice.

“I owe her an apology.” The blonde added succinctly before finally clasping Regina’s hand between hers, long fingers drawing lines that left behind a trail of warmth the former queen sworn she could almost see in the way her magic blossomed through her skin, sparks painting purple between the two of them. “And a talk with… Snow.”

Regina said nothing but noted the use of the other woman’s name instead of her epithet.

“I can be there for that if you want.”

And, as Emma smiled at her before dropping soft kisses Regina decided to answer with a few of her own, the former queen knew that she, indeed, was going to be there. Wherever that “there” was.

(At some other place a dragoness kissed softly a stubble-covered cheek before disappearing into her own magic, night still young and power burning on the tips of her fingers. A good night indeed.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaand, it's a wrap!  
> You can come to my tumblr inbox (shadowdianne) or my twitter (same @ ) I'm always up to talk about prompts, hc or anything related to these two!


End file.
